Transgender soldiers testify in Congress while hate group rewards leader trying to take away their careers

While trans soldiers fight for their military careers on Capitol Hill, hate group Family Research Council again rewards Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler its 'True Blue' award (second picture). She received the award in 2018 (see first picture) in part for her efforts to push Trump's trans ban, including providing inaccurate statistics about transgender healthcare.

An interesting and sad juxtaposition took place recently in Congress.

While everyone was fixated on the Michael Cohen hearing, five transgender soldiers testified in another hearing regarding Trump's attempt to ban them from service.

From the Daily Beast:

For the first time, five transgender service members gave evidence to the House of Representatives about their experiences of military service, transition, and why they consider President Trump’s proposed ban on trans service members to be unfair and unjust, alongside his administration‘s latest suggestion that trans people can serve as long as they don't transition. 

Navy Lieutenant Commander Blake Dremann, who is also president of trans servicepeople group Sparta Pride, sat alongside Army captain Alivia Stehlik, Army captain Jennifer Peace, Staff Sergeant Patricia King, and Marine Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Akira Wyatt. All delivered measured, illuminating, and powerful testimonies.
The five service members and, later in a second panel, Defense Department officials were giving evidence to the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel.

 Of course the testimony was riveting:

Dremann told the sub-committee that each time a barrier had been raised to his service—whether it was the gender assigned to him at birth, his sexual orientation prior to transition, then his gender identity—he had “risen to the occasion” and succeeded as a submariner. 

To be openly transgender at work, as he has been since 2016, has afforded Dremann the opportunity “to not only be who but also act as an educator and advocate” on behalf of the 800 members of Sparta Pride. He said that the notion that trans service members damaged unit cohesion and morale was “myths and completely without merit… It just so happens the best and brightest we have to offer happen to be transgender.”

And according to Zack Ford of ThinkProgress, the hearing was not without fireworks. Trump Administration officials attempted to justify the ban and got justifiably blasted by Congressional leaders as their explanation were refuted one after the other.

The juxtaposition is due to the tweet below:

'Right-wing and fake feminists teaming up to attack trans community' & other Thur midday news briefs

Right-wing media and think tanks are aligning with fake feminists who dehumanize trans people - Media Matters breaks this travesty and team-up from hell down rather nicely.

Witherspoon provides an outlet for five anonymous trans parents - Anti-trans parents, you mean. The same nonsense they used to attack marriage equality - trot out "witnesses" from supposed same-sex households.

Jussie Smollett cannot become an excuse to ignore hate crimes - AMEN! 

Pence’s New Chief Of Staff Apologizes For Blaming AIDS Crisis On ‘Repugnant’ Gay Sex - Sorry he had to answer for it, I bet.

Hate group furious at Wal-Mart for catering to its LGBTQ customers

This is such tripe but it underscores the homophobia of hate group the American Family Association and the rest of the anti-LGBTQ industry:

In a move that most Christians probably never expected to see, retail giant Walmart has posted an online video that normalizes homosexual relationships. 

For most Christians and other traditionalists, the idea that marriage is between a man and a woman is sacred. We've seen many large corporations reject that in their marketing, but I honestly never thought Walmart would join the cultural revolution and reject the beliefs of its customer base. 

The ad is part of a campaign called "Love is in the aisle: A dating show at Walmart." Episode 2 features Pat and Andy, two homosexual men on a "blind date" as they meet at the store and shop together. Through this process they discover whether or not they are compatible. 

Sign our petition to Walmart now, urging them to remove the pro-homosexual video and remain neutral on controversial issues. 

It's clear that Walmart is on the path of elevating homosexual relationships to the same level as the male-female model of marriage. We have no choice but to ask our supporters to let the company know how they, the customers, feel about Walmart's shift away from neutrality on this controversial issue to full support for same sex relationships. 

At least with a company like Amazon, we knew they were liberal from the outset. But this seems more like a betrayal from a well-known friend. Sam Walton is probably turning over in his grave.

These folks always want to appropriate things. They want to appropriate the Christian religion. They want to appropriate Wal-Mart. And now they seem to want to appropriate the concept of dating. It's equally nauseating how they create implied phraseology to make their bigotry seem palpable.

"Wal-Mart is normalizing homosexual relationships."

"Wal-Mart is attacking traditional relationships."

"Wal-Mart is taking sides on a controversial issue."

Bull. Wal-Mart is simply acknowledging its gay customers.  And that's the rub. God forbid that the LGBTQ community do normal things like date.  Apparently when we do it, it's a part of a huge conspiracy to destroy and recruit.

If' that's the case, I have one question - why do groups like AFA always seem to be getting my memos.

'Anti-LGBTQ pastor will not participate in new Congressional election' & other Wed midday news briefs

Mark Harris

Republican Mark Harris won’t run again after election board called for new House election in ballot fraud case - Anti-LGBTQ pastor Mark Harris can continue to fondly remember the days when homosexuality was illegal but he won't be doing it as a member of Congress. After his win last year in NC last year, there was a huge investigation on fraud with regards to illegal ballots via his campaign. That investigation led to an official call for a new election, which Harris has chosen to bow out of. Pity. Or not.

A Medicare Change Could Keep Us from Life-Saving HIV Meds - Always a pleasure to post from my fellow blogger Mark S. King. Wonderful man and wonderful activist.

Missouri Supreme Court opens the door to LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections - A win is a win, but count on us having ugly ones. 

You want to refuse services to the LGBTQ community? Fine. Just own your bigotry with a sign. - Repeating my post from last night. 

Gay, Aspiring Pastor Pleads For Church To Accept Him In Impassioned Speech - Noble, but your acceptance comes from God, not a church.

You want to refuse services to the LGBTQ community? Fine. Just own your bigotry with a sign.

You want to refuse services to the LGBTQ community? Fine. Just own your bigotry by placing a sign up so we don't have to be humiliated.

There are incidents sprouting up here and there of businesses refusing certain services or any services at all to members of the LGBTQ community because of the so-called concept of "religious liberty." I don't agree with this because discrimination is awful and there is the slippery slope which comes into play. You weaponize religion to refuse to serve the LGBTQ community in one area, then were is the line drawn?

But if people are so all fired up and determined to do this, then I think they should take it a step further. In all of these situations, the refusal happens after members of the LGBTQ community either inquires or has made an agreement with the business. In the latter case, the agreement is always broken by the business after the owners find out that the potential customers are LGBTQ.

I say we stop making it so complicated. If any business doesn't to serve the LGBTQ community in any capacity, why not say so beforehand? Put a sign outside the window of your business. I have posted a few suggestions above. You say that the LGBTQ community should respect your rights and opinions.  You say we should show "tolerance" for your religious beliefs. That's fine. Then respect our dignity as consumers. Why should we walk into your businesses and be humiliated. Why not eliminate that problem off the bat with a sign letting us know that our money isn't welcome?

Or could it be that the goal isn't to preserve your religious beliefs, but rather to humiliate us. Fill us with shame or worse, so much dread that we fear the anticipation of going into any business for fear of being embarrassed because we would be turned away. And this embarrassment goes deeper if we are accompanied by our friends, our prospective partner, our parents, or especially our children.

So why don't you accommodate us like you want us to accommodate you.

Or, as I asked before, is the so-called preservation of your religious beliefs really your goal? Seriously how hard can it be? It's not like it hasn't been done before:

Pat Robertson's obsession with gay sex reminds us what the anti-LGBTQ right is all about

Editor's note - due to reasons beyond my control, the blog postings here may be a bit spotty over the next few days. Please bear with me as I work this out and please don't stop supporting this blog with your hits, kind words, and shares.

Just like the relative you don't want anyone to know about, but the same relative whose presence knocks you down a peg when you get a bit too pretentious for your own britches, televangelist Pat Robertson just dealt a brutal blow to his comrades in the anti-LGBTQ right.

From Right Wing Watch:

Today on “The 700 Club,” televangelist Pat Robertson called on Christians to warn politicians that anyone who “goes along with the gay agenda” will be “voted out of office,” and fumed that LGTBQ people are “willing to destroy the whole fabric of society” in order to ensure that “their weird way of doing sex is legitimized.” 

Robertson was outraged by a story about a Catholic adoption agency that had not had its contract renewed with the city of Philadelphia because the agency refused to abide by the city’s nondiscrimination policy. 

“The incredible thing about the homosexuals is they are willing to destroy lives and destroy the whole fabric of society so long as they and their weird way of doing sex is legitimized,” he said. “That’s what they want and they will take away everything; they will destroy marriage, they will destroy families, they will destroy, in this case, the foster children. They are willing to tear down the entire edifice in order to have the majority of people recognize the way they do sex.” 

“I think if Christians begin to speak out and insist that if some politician goes along with the gay agenda, that they’re going to be voted out of office,” Robertson added. “Once they get that message, they’ll start saying, ‘We want to listen to the majority of the people in our society.’ Until they do, that small minority is going to be dominating everything we do and every aspect of our lives.”

Now some of you are like "why give this old fossil any attention." But you miss the point.

Presently in the Trump Administration, there are a bunch of anti-LGBTQ activists  and groups who at one time, spoke openly the same way Robertson did. In the past, what they could imagine gay men doing sexually was the centerpiece of their messages. Things like this:

Some, like 'Porno' Pete LaBarbera or Linda Harvey, still do. But for the most part, groups like the Family Research Council and the Alliance Defending Freedom and people like Tony Perkins have traded lurid stories of gay men engaging in more sex than humanly possible for cleaner, albeit, equally false anecdotes of gays putting attempting to put people out of business for not participating in  their marriage ceremonies or blatant lies about transgender youth exhibiting themselves in school locker rooms. So thank you Pat Robertson for reminding us about how, while the lies change, the demonizing and the appeals to fears don't.

In other words, when one lie becomes less plausible or shocking, another takes it place. And that's the thing the LGBTQ community misses out on when we don't remind people of that.  So when people like Pat Robertson accidentally does our work for us, let's spotlight it and add how it's simply and old fear tactic in a string of fear tactics by anti-LGBTQ activists.

'Another homophobe at Trump's HHS, LGBTQ community & allies rock the Oscars, & other Mon midday news briefs

Oscars 2019: Everything LGBTQ that happened at Hollywood’s biggest night - The LGBTQ community and our allies rocked it like we did the Grammys. 

Meet the rabidly anti-gay HHS official behind Trump’s plan to defund Planned Parenthood - Roger Severino at HHS has caused enough havoc. Now they have this guy belligerent fool making problems for women's health: 

 The Department of Health and Human Services may be the worst in the Trump administration (though it’s hard to choose when the pickings are so awfully plentiful). It’s certainly the most anti-LGBTQ, which is saying a lot. The department is run by an evangelical cabal that has made implementing the religious right’s agenda its top priority.

Related post: Meet Roger Severino, the Trump Bigot Working to Erase Trans People - Who is Roger Severino? This guy. 

Healthcare access for LGBTQ members in rural communities 'non-existent' - A huge problem. And it becomes larger when the "religious liberty" nonsense comes into play. 

Over 350 kids and parents showed up bigots protesting a Drag Queen Story Hour in Indiana - Ha! Ha! Haters lose again.